Al-Waleed bin Talal
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Template:Saudibox end HRH Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, (born, March 1955) (Arabic: الوليد بن طلال بن عبد العزيز آل سعود) commonly known as Prince Al-Waleed, is a member of the Saudi Royal Family, an entrepreneur and international investor who has amassed an enormous fortune through investments in shares and property. With an estimated net worth of US $20 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the eighth richest person in the world and nicknamed by Time magazine as Arabian Warren Buffett.
Prince Al-Waleed was born in Riyadh, to Prince Talal son of founding king of Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz Al-Saud and Princess Mona El-Solh, daughter of Riad El-Solh, the first Prime Minister of modern day Lebanon and a leader of Lebanese independence, he is also the cousin of Prince Moulay Hicham of Morocco whose mother is also the daughter of El-Solh . He completed his Bachelors in Science in Business Administration from Menlo College, USA in 1979 and Masters in Social Science from Syracuse University, USA in 1985. He is married and has two children. He is the nephew of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia but has stayed outside of the core of political power in Saudi Arabia, instead building a large international business called the Kingdom Holding Company through which he makes his investments.
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Investment activities
Prince Al-Waleed's activities as an investor came to prominence when he bought a large tranche of shares in Citicorp in the 1990s when that firm was in difficulties. He has also made large investments in AOL, Apple Computer, Worldcom, Motorola, News Corporation Ltd and other technology and media companies.
His real estate holdings have included large stakes in the Four Seasons hotel chain and the Plaza Hotel in New York; he sold half of his shares in the latter in August 2004 and invested it back in London's Savoy Hotel and Monaco's Monte Carlo Grand hotel. He holds a 10% stake worth $30 million in Euro Disney SCA, the organization which manages and maintains the Disneyland Resort Paris in Marne-la-Vallee, France.
In January 2005 he purchased the Savoy Hotel in London for an estimated GBP £250 million, and it will now be managed by Fairmont Hotels in which Prince Alwaleed owns an estimated 16%. In January 2006 in partnership with the American real estate firm Colony Capital, Kingdom Holdings acquired Toronto,CA-based Fairmont Hotels for an estimated $3.9 billion
Charitable activities
Prince Waleed was heavily involved in charitable activities across the Middle-East, Asia and Africa, and is estimated to donate more than $100 million annually to charity. Much of this expenditure is in the field of educational initiatives to bridge gaps between Western and Islamic communities by funding centers of American studies and research in universities in Middle East and centers of Islamic studies in American universities.
In 2001 he offered New York City a donation of $10 million towards relief efforts after the September 11, 2001 attacks. This was rejected by Mayor Rudy Giuliani because he felt that the prince's subsequent issuance of a statement that the United States "must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack" could be construed as a justification of the terrorist incidents.
In 2002 Prince Al-Waleed donated $500,000 to the George Herbert Walker Bush Scholarship Fund, established by the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, to honor former President George H. W. Bush.
In December 2002, Al-Waleed donated $27 million to a Saudi Government telethon raising money for Palestinians.
In July 2005 he donated $20 million to the Louvre Museum to help fund a new Islamic art wing, a freeform, glassy structure that will bring a modern touch to a neoclassical courtyard. The museum is slated for completion in 2009.
In December 2005 Prince Al-Waleed donated $20 million each to both Harvard University and Georgetown University. The donations will finance Islamic studies at both universities. The $20 million to Georgetown is its second largest donation in history and among the 25 largest for Harvard.
Political involvement
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is not part of the ruling executive within the House of Saud, and has generally kept out of politics, concentrating on his business interests. However, he has recently started to make overt political statements in his press releases and interviews. His views can be seen as critical of Saudi traditionalism, proposing reforms to elections, women's rights and the economy. He has also openly criticized operation of the state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco. He is vocal about women's rights and hired the first female airline pilot in Saudi Arabia.
He has also taken a notable pro-American stance, backed up by his $10 million financing of American study programmes at the American University in Cairo.
Further reading
- Riz Khan - AlWaleed: Businessman Billionaire Prince (HarperCollins, 2005) ISBN 0060850302
See also
External links
- Review of biography AlWaleed
- 2005 Interview with Prince AlWaleed
- Forbes World's Richest People 2005
- The mystery of the world’s second-richest businessman from The Economist
- The Frogs Of The Prince, Forbes article from 2000
- A mini-portal on Prince Al-Waleed maintained at Libanmall
- Year-wise listing of his international investments since 1991 on a mini
- A Dutch State television broadcast about Saudi woman with extensive footage of the Prince (Language=Dutch)
- Portfoliode:Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud
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